Laura Jepsen Timeline

This page is work in progress and will eventually chart many of events in Laura Jepsen's life.

Dates in Orange refer to Writings by Laura                                    Dates in Green refer to Personal Events in Laura's Life

Dates in Red refer to events at the property on High Rd            Dates in Blue refer to Educational Parts of Laura's Life

Note: All documents from Laura Jepsen's Personnel File at FSU are used with permission of FSU Human Resources Department and Laura Jepsen, (see Termination/Resignation Form here)

 1852

  Thies Nagle Laura’s great grandfather left Germany for Davenport, Iowa

 1866

  Laura’s grandfather paternal Hans Jepsen left Germany for Iowa

1875

  Laura’s father John William Jepsen was born in Davenport, Iowa.  Also, same year her mother was born in PA.

 1887

  Laura’s mother moved from Pennsylvania to a farm near Everly, Iowa

 1905

  August 16  -  Laura’s parents were married in Spencer, Iowa.

 1907

 October 30  -  Birth of Laura Jepsen in O'Brien County, Iowa to Mr. John Jepsen and Mrs. Marguerite Unangst Jepsen

 1925

June 19  -  Laura graduates High School, 71st Commencement ceremony held at the Davenport High School auditorium

 1931

 March  -  The Daily Iowan, March 12, 1931, article about Eta Sigma Phi dinner with toast by Laura Jepsen called “Dido was an ugly duckling”

1937

August  -  Enrollment at the University of Iowa is 5,423

1938

April  -  The graduate women's dormitory, Margaret Hall, destroyed by fire on University of Iowa's campus

May 11 - John William Jepsen, (Laura's father) dies

 1941

December - Laura vacations in New Orleans, LA during the break from teaching High School at Rock Falls Township High.  She is traveling the furtherest of the teachers taking a vacation that year according the article in the Sterling Daily Gazette, December 18, 1941

 1944   

 March 11  -  The Saturday Review of Literature, March 11, 1943, Letter to the Editor, "If Writers Were Really Honest,"

 1945

 July 30  -  Final Examination of Laura Pauline Jepsen for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, program here

 1946

 January  -  The Daily Iowan, January 30, 1946, announcement that Laura Jepsen is a candidate for Doctoral degree

 1948

 May  -  May 28th, 1948, Laura gets her first passport, all of her passports can be viewed on the Passport page

 1954

 Spring  -  Shakespeare Quarterly, Volume 5, No. 2, Spring 1954, page 230, Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography for 1953, reference to Dr. Jepsen’s book Ethical Aspects of Tragedy

 March  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 19, No. 4, March 1954, page 20, ad listing Laura Jepsen’s book Ethical Aspects of Tragedy for sale for $3.75

 March  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 19, No. 4, March 1954, page 15, correction listing thesis by Julie Storm entitled “The Impasse of Action in the Development of Tone: A Study of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Chekhov’s The Sea Gull, and Pirandello’s Henry IV”, under the heading English supervised by Dr. Jepsen

 July  -  The Review of English Studies, New Series, Volume 5, No. 19, July 1954, pages 287-288, review of Laura’s book “Ethical Aspects of Tragedy” by Clifford Leech

 October  -  Educational Theatre Journal, Volume 6, No. 2, October 1954, pages 272-273, review of book Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes by Lily B. Campbell

 November  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 20, No. 2, November 1954, ad for Laura’s book “Ethical Aspects of Tragedy”, sale price $3.75 from University of Florida Press

 1954

  June  -  June 7th, 1954, Laura gets her second passport, all of Laura's passports can be viewed here

 1955

October 17  -  Marguerite Elizabeth Jepsen (Maggie), Laura's mother dies

 November  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 21, No. 2, November 1955, page 13, review of book “Homer to Mann, Masterworks of World Literature” by Edwin M. Everett & others, review written by Dr. Laura Jepsen

 1956

 Spring  -  Directory of 1955 Members of the Renaissance Society of America, page 56 lists Laura Jepsen as Regular Member, published Spring 1956

March - Laura purchases three acres on High Road with funds borrowed from a friend

 April  -  Studies in Philology, Literature of the renaissance in 1955, Volume 53, No. 2, April 1956, page 269, listing of her book Ethical Aspects of Tragedy for sale, mentions review by Hans Galinsky

 April  -  The English Journal, Volume 45, No. 4, April 1956, page 230, review by Dr. Jepsen on book entitled The Trumpet Unblown by William Hoffman

 1957

 March  -  The English Journal, Volume 46, No. 3, March 1957, page 177, review by Dr. Jepsen on book entitled Chapman’s Homer, Vol. 1, edited by Allardyce Nicoll

 April  -  The English Journal, Volume 46, No. 4, April 1957, page 232, review written by Dr. Jepsen of the book entitled “The Birds” by Aristophanea, An English Version by Dudley Fitts, one paragraph

 1958

 March  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 23, No. 4, March 1958, page 15, listing for Bernard Benstock thesis entitled “Ironic Alchemy: A Study of Language, Humor, and Significance in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake”, being supervised by Dr. Laura Jepsen

 May  -  Educational Theatre Journal, Volume 10, No. 2, May 1958, page 137, Doctoral Projects in Progress in Theatre Arts, 1957, listing for William Lee Pryor thesis entitled “An Examination of the Southern Milieu in Representative Plays by Southern Dramatists, 1920-1956”, being supervised by Dr. Jepsen

 1959

 May  -  The English Journal, Volume 48, No. 5, May 1959, pages 287-288, Dr. Jepsen reviews a book by F. L. Lucas entitled Tragedy: Serious Drama in Relation to Aristotle’s Poetics

 November  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 25, No. 2, November 1959, page 9, listing for Max Halperen thesis entitled “The Structural Reading of The Cantos of Ezra Pound”, being supervised by Dr. Laura Jepsen

1960

December - Five Holly trees are planted near the cottage, all are still present today.  Planting is described in Laura's letter to her friend Marion on December 30, 1960

1961

June - First mowing of the grass on the Lichgate property, described in a letter from Laura, June 14, 1961

December - Construction of the doghouse nears completion, described in a letter from Laura, October 12, 1961

1966

 March  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 31, No. 2, March 1966, pages 11-12, article entitled Life in Victory by Laura Jepsen

 1967

Summer - Laura registers the Lichgate Oak with the Live Oak Society, it becomes number 264 in the growing registry

August 10 - Laura visits her sister Mrs. Chrystel Barrett in Pocahontas, Iowa, staying in her home.  The visit is mentioned in the local newspaper.

 1969

 November  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 34, No. 4, November 1969, pages 5-7, article entitled Prince Andrey as Epic Hero in Tolstoy’sWar and Peace

 1972

 July  -  July 12th, 1972, Laura gets her third and final passport, all of Laura's passports can be viewed here

 1976

 May  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 41, No. 2, May 1976, pages 68-70, article by Dr. Jepsen entitled Two Immodest Proposals in Tolstoy’s ” War and Peace”

 1978

 January  -  South Atlantic Bulletin, Volume 43, No. 1, January 1978, pages 86-94, article entitled To Kill Like a Cossack by Laura Jepsen

 June 08  -  Last day of employment with Florida State University, see Termination/Resignation Form here

 1981

 April  -  Russian Review, Volume 40, No. 2, April 1981, page 221-222 review of her book From Achilles to Christ by Washington University professor Edgar H. Lehrman

 1985

 November  -  South Atlantic Review, Volume 50, No. 4, November 1985, page 185, Laura’s article “Life in Victory” shown in index

 1995

 December 24  -  Laura dies in Tallahassee, Florida

2006

March 31  -  Lichgate on High Road enters the National Registry of Historic Places, (Registration Form PDF)

2015

September  -  Lichgate on High Road becomes essentially privatized with the takeover of governing board of the Laura Jepsen Institute by the Davis Family interests